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Death Patrol (Quality Universe)
| TeamLeaders = Colonel Rider, Del van Dyne | Allies = Allied military forces | Enemies = Nazi military forces | Origin = | Quotation = What about all the WORKERS in the FACTORY ?! They’re LOCKED IN !! Our fight isn’t with the German people .. it’s with the NAZIS !! | Speaker = Del van Dyne | QuoteSource = Military Comics Vol 1 5 | PlaceOfFormation = an aerodrome near London | PlaceOfDefunction = | Creators = Jack Cole | First = Military Comics #1 | Last = Modern Comics #52 | HistoryText = The Death Patrol was a ragtag group of volunteer pilots fighting Nazi oppression in Europe and across the European Theater of WWII. Most of the founding members of the Patrol were escaped convicts, and their striped uniforms were designed to commemorate this. The Death Patrol’s famous insignia was a skull wearing a hat. Right after getting fired from his airline pilot job, Del Van Dyne, millionaire owner of his own Stratoliner, got hijacked by five escaping convicts, all of whom claimed to be ace pilots, and who ordered him to fly to Boston. He instead flew to England, and along the way persuaded these desperados to fight for the R.A.F., as “a foreign legion of the air.” They arrived in English airspace during a German bombing raid, and managed to destroy one German bomber by using an improbable tactic: dropping two oildrums onto it, in mid-air. Some R.A.F. officers saw this, and were very anxious to recruit all six of them. Early on, there was friction between the British regular military, especially their commanding officer Colonel Rider, and the unruly convicts, but they accomplished several very difficult assignments, and eventually earned the grudging respect of the established military authorities. In its early adventures, this unit suffered severe attrition, losing one member in nearly every adventure. Current Members * Del van Dyne, former airline pilot, founding member, apparently died in , when he was shot in the back at close range by Mademoiselle from Armentieres, but was rescued from a Naziland hospital in . * Gramps, ex-pickpocket, founding member, apparently died in , when he threw himself onto a grenade and it went off, rejoined the team in , and was still on the team at the end of the series. * Hank, ex-rustler, founding member, apparently died in amid a hail of gunfire, rejoined the team in , was absent when the team re-appeared in , returned to the team in , and was still on the team at the end of the series. * Chief Chuckalug, ex-rodeo performer, joined in , was absent when the team re-appeared in , and was still on the team at the end of the series. * King Hotintot, African ruler, joined in , apparently died in , amid a hail of machinegun bullets (and the caption described him as "fatally wounded"), rejoined the team in , and was still on the team at the end of the series. * Boris, joined in , and was still on the team at the end of the series. * Frere Jacques, the Patchwork Kid, joined in , was absent when the team re-appeared in , returned to the team in , and was still on the team at the end of the series. * Yogi telekinetic telepath, joined in , and was still on the team at the end of the series. Former Members * Peewee, ex-forger, founding member, died in , shot from behind during an otherwise successful escape. * Stoney Rock, ex-arsonist, joined in , died in , shot in the chest during a trainboard gunfight. * Slick Ward, ex-con-man, founding member, died in , aboard an experimental German dirigible that got shot down. * Butch O’Keefe, ex-safe-cracker, founding member, died in , when he deliberately crashed his airplane into an enemy troop-transport plane. * Zazzy, kleptomaniac, joined in , died in in an explosive demolition of an enemy factory. * Mademoiselle From Armentieres, assassin, joined in , disappeared without explanation between and . * The Goucho, ex-cowboy, joined in , disappeared without explanation between and . * Prince Totinhot, son of King Hotintot, joined in , disappeared without explanation between and . | Equipment = | Weapons = | Transportation = * * , with RAF insignia, starting in * Six s, with RAF insignia, starting in * Six individualistically self-designed home-built fighter planes, with the death’s-head insignias, starting in | Notes = * Del Van Dyne learned German in college. * The “skull with hat” insignias were introduced in . Each member had an individualized logo, in which the skull’s hat resembled the member’s own hat. * The Death Patrol appeared in Military Comics #s 1 ~ 12, then disappeared. Under Will Eisner's editorship, the team suffered one fatality in nearly every story. * The feature returned in , and ran until . Under John Beardsley's editorship, the characters stopped being killed off, and several formerly dead characters were brought back. | Trivia = | Links = }}